A fire kills Jessie Parsons' family and leaves her an orphan at age 13 during the Great Depression. The fire also leaves her both physically and emotionally scarred.

Amid her struggles to adjust to life on a farm orphanage, she tries to help an elephant calf that has escaped from the circus. Jessie and the elephant bond as Jessie tries to care for the elephant. The calf is eventually returned to the circus, but Jessie discovers her love for animals and, in particular, elephants.

When she is 16 years old, Jessie joins the Conroy & Pepperidge Circus as an animal handler, but quickly becomes an assistant elephant trainer. She is also reunited with the elephant calf she tried to help, although Myrna the elephant is now full grown. The bond that they developed years earlier continues to grow as Jessie works with Myrna, and they watch over each other.

Jessie meets a young circus clown named Bradley Starr, and they became friends. Bradley has his own scars, coming from a family of aerialists who don't approve of him working as a clown. He and Jessie become quick friends as he shows her the ropes of living as a circus performer.

When disaster strikes the circus, it leaves Myrna's future to chance. Jessie must find a way to save the elephant she wasn't able to protect when they were younger, but it might not be possible.

Home for Wayward Elephants is touching coming-of-age novel that follows Jessie from a Pennsylvania orphanage, across the country with the circus, and into the mountains of West Virginia. It is a story of friendship, love, and sacrifice from bestselling author James Rada, Jr.